Media captionMr Khan travelled to the city of Aleppo last year to help civilians, as Lyse Doucet reports

A British surgeon, imprisoned in Syria for over a year, has died in detention, his family has told the BBC.

Dr Abbas Khan, a 32-year-old orthopaedic surgeon from Streatham, south London, travelled to the city of Aleppo last year to help civilians.

His brother Afroze said the Syrian National Security Agency had promised his release this week but on Monday it said he had died.

A Syrian government official said Dr Khan had committed suicide in his cell.

The Foreign Office said it was "extremely concerned" by reports.

An autopsy was under way which would be made available to the doctor's family, the Syrian official said.

'We are devastated'

Mr Khan, 34, said: "My brother was going to be released at the end of the week. We were given assurance by the Syrian government.

"My brother knew that. He was ready to come back home.

"He was happy and looking forward to being released."

Image caption
Dr Khan worked as a specialist registrar in orthopaedic surgery at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital

He added: "We are devastated, distraught and we are angry at the Foreign Office for dragging their feet for 13 months."

The Syrian government confirmed that Dr Khan was due to be released on Friday and the decision to free him had involved the "highest authority".

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: "We are extremely concerned by reports that a British national has died in detention in Syria.

"We are urgently seeking clarification of this from the Syrian authorities. If these tragic reports are true, responsibility for Dr Khan's death lies with them and we will be pressing for answers about what happened."

They added: "We have consistently sought consular access to Dr Khan and information on his detention, directly and through the Russians, Czechs and others.

"In November, Minister [Hugh] Robertson wrote making clear our concerns about his welfare and treatment, stressing that the regime's failure to provide any information that would indicate Dr Khan's continued detention is legitimate meant his position should be reviewed immediately. These requests have consistently been ignored.

"All UK consular services in Syria were suspended some time ago and we continue to advise against all travel to Syria."

Torture claims

Mr Khan said his brother was moved from a prison in Damascus to the National Security Agency's headquarters.

He said his mother Fatima, who has been in Damascus for the last four months, was told she could visit her son on Monday and when she arrived she was told he was dead.